4-nation Mekong security patrols begin

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, fully-armed Chinese police officers line up on their boat as their patrol missions along the Mekong River are ready to start in Guanlei, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. China said joint Mekong River security patrols with forces from Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand will begin on Saturday, a development likely to deepen Beijing's influence in the region on its southern flank. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Lin Yiguang) NO SALES
— AP

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, fully-armed Chinese police officers line up on their boat as their patrol missions along the Mekong River are ready to start in Guanlei, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. China said joint Mekong River security patrols with forces from Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand will begin on Saturday, a development likely to deepen Beijing's influence in the region on its southern flank. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Lin Yiguang) NO SALES
/ AP

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, fully-armed Chinese police officers line up on their boat as their patrol missions along the Mekong River are ready to start in Guanlei, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. China said joint Mekong River security patrols with forces from Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand will begin on Saturday, a development likely to deepen Beijing's influence in the region on its southern flank. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Lin Yiguang) NO SALES— AP

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, fully-armed Chinese police officers line up on their boat as their patrol missions along the Mekong River are ready to start in Guanlei, Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. China said joint Mekong River security patrols with forces from Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand will begin on Saturday, a development likely to deepen Beijing's influence in the region on its southern flank. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Lin Yiguang) NO SALES
/ AP

BEIJING 
China says its armed police began joint Mekong River security patrols on Saturday with forces from Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, a development likely to deepen Beijing's influence in an unstable region on its southern flank.

The patrols are a response to the deaths of 13 Chinese sailors who were attacked on two cargo ships in early October along the Thai section of the river that flows through the lawless Golden Triangle region.

The joint operations among the four nations will take Chinese vessels downstream over the border, a first for Chinese border police. China has long contributed police to United Nations peacekeeping missions overseas, but this is believed to be the first time they will work in another country's territory without a U.N. mandate.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday from Xishuangbann in Yunnan province near the borders with Laos and Myanmar that the patrols had begun.

The patrols reflect how Chinese political influence is accompanying the country's economic penetration of the region, particularly in the impoverished nations of Laos and Myanmar.

That doesn't come without political risk for Beijing, however, with many of its neighbors already wary of Chinese domination. China's military strength and willingness to assert its territorial claims have prompted many to seek stronger ties with the United States, which is focusing again on the Pacific as military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are ending.

While Beijing has long provided key diplomatic and economic support for Myanmar, relations have been strained by fighting between Myanmar's army and rebel groups that has sent refugees into southwestern China.

China was also caught off guard by the suspension of a major dam project being built by a Chinese company in Myanmar that presaged a significant about-face in Myanmar's domestic politics.

Overall, the joint patrols should be positive for relations among the four and will have little real effect on the balance of influence, said Zhao Gancheng, director of Southeast Asian studies at Shanghai's government-run Institute of Foreign Studies.

"China is already the most influential country in the region and it's not necessary for China to gain more influence," Zhao said.

Little is known about the scale of the planned operations on the Mekong and it remains unclear how far south on the river they will go.

The Chinese leadership appears to be well aware of sentiments to its south, and Deputy Public Security Minister Meng Hongwei on Friday told the participating troops they must be respectful and mindful of foreign ways and win the support of commercial shippers and people living along the river.

"Let joint law enforcement become the bond of friendship between the people of the four nations and the officers and men taking part be ambassadors of friendly exchanges with the outside," Meng said in remarks at a ceremony marking the formal establishment of the Chinese patrol unit.

The Chinese force is made up of more than 200 officers and men drawn from border patrol units along China's coast and major rivers. They will sail in 11 converted flat-bottomed passenger and cargo ships based in the Mekong River port of Guanlei on China's border with Myanmar, also known as Burma.